Today, 4/9/2025, the feast day of the great prophet Moses, who is one of the patrons of Sinai, the restoration of normality and legitimacy at Sinai Monastery is now a reality. But this alone is not enough to achieve the ultimate goal of safeguarding its centuries-old status and, above all, its future. In addition to regularity and legitimacy, unity among the Fathers of the Holy Sinai Brotherhood is required.

I realize that as I pass through my 91st year of age, the thoughts of many, within and outside the Monastery, are focused on the fact that my succession is a matter of time. This very thought is the real cause of the internal crisis that has erupted at Sinai Monastery. The responsibility falls on all of us, and first of all on all the Sinaite Fathers, but not in the same way and in the same proportion. Unfortunately, the crisis of my succession coincided with the crisis caused by the decision of the Court of Appeal of Ismailia of 28/5/2025, with the result that the crisis turned into an existential one.

It has now been proven by events that all the Sinaitic Fathers, including the 11thasi, share certain common positions which must form the basis of a new unity:

A) In the greatest issue of the judicial decision of the Court of Appeal of Ismailia of 28/5/2025, all the Sinai Fathers have the same view and the same objectives. This decision overturns the centuries-old status of the Monastery, paving the way for its de-indigenization and museums.

B) The solution to the existential crisis we are facing will be found in cooperation with the Egyptian and Greek governments, and must be a tripartite agreement. Of course, the continuation of the effort to vindicate the Holy Monastery through the Egyptian courts must and will continue under the responsibility of the new Archbishop of Sinai, Faran and Reth,o and the united Sinai Holy Brotherhood.

C) The solution, apart from the property issue, definitely includes a) the recognition of an independent religious legal entity (sui generis) with the name “Greek Orthodox Royal Holy Autonomous Monastery of St. Catherine of Mount Sinai” in the Egyptian legal order, b) the granting of Egyptian citizenship to the current Archbishop of Sinai, Faran and Raitho and Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Sinai; c) the granting of residence permits to the Fathers through special procedures; d) the protection of the private collection of relics and manuscripts of the Holy Monastery; and e) the recognition of the purely religious character of the relics without artistic value (i. relics, etc.).

D) Law 5224/2025 (A’ 142) is not only a milestone in the struggle of the Holy Monastery to secure its future and its well-meaning interests, but also a crucial strategic choice for both the Sinai Monastery and Greece. The relationship of the Holy Monastery with the Greek state is now determined by the Constitution and this law, thus constituting a strong and impenetrable shield of protection for the Holy Monastery both in Greece and throughout the world.

E) The Sinaitic Brotherhood needs to accept new Fathers to grow in numbers.

F) Pan-Orthodoxy, the canonical position of the Holy Monastery of Sinai has been irrevocably established by the Sigillium of the Ecumenical Patriarch Gabriel IV in 1782. At the same time, the Ecumenical Patriarchate remains the final arbiter of pan-Orthodoxy. The Holy Monastery of Sinai is “autonomous, self-governing, free, unconquered, not subject to any Patriarchal Throne.”
Always judgments prove much for many.

No one will forget who were those who immediately supported the Monastery when the decision of 5/28/2025 became known. It was the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Patriarchate of Bulgaria, the Church of Greece, and the Church of Cyprus. Later, they were joined by the Patriarchate of Antioch, the Patriarchate of Serbia, and the Church of Albania. The emphatic silence of the Patriarch of Alexandria is tantamount to support. All other Patriarchates and all other Orthodox Churches were silent except for the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, whose announcement had as its only aim the confirmation of an imperialist policy against the Holy Monastery of Sinai aimed at transforming the Holy Monastery of Sinai into a mere monastery subordinate to the Patriarch of Jerusalem. For this situation of discord and division in the Orthodox world, the responsibility for this lies solely with the Moscow Patriarchate, but the whole of Orthodoxy is paying for its results. It is no coincidence that the first to rush to exploit the internal rift in the Holy Sinai Brotherhood were organizations, networks, parties, and persons connected with Russia’s attempt to dismantle Orthodoxy, while promoting views contrary to Orthodox Christian theology and ethics.

Christianity in the Middle East is being persecuted, and especially Orthodox Christians, modern Romanity is under very serious threat, as was demonstrated by the terrorist attack on the Church of the Prophet Elijah in Damascus. If it were not for the Greek state and without its active involvement, nothing would be saved. Neither Russia, nor Jordan (which was raised as a “shield” for Christians in Jerusalem by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, thanking it for releasing his accounts while Greece succeeded), nor any other country has the sincerity, the fortitude, the commitment and the love for Romanity that Greece has.

I received a document yesterday from Patriarch Theophilus of Jerusalem, whom I respect and honor unreservedly, which is normally at least illusory and unprovable. This is because. He ignores my letter of 7/8/3035 to His Beatitude the Patriarch of Jerusalem, in which I explicitly and unequivocally declared to him that I did not invite him to the case of the Monastery; 2. He ignores the canonical and legal defects of the alleged invitation of the Fathers; 3. He ignores the canonical and legal defects of the alleged invitation of the Fathers; 3. He treats the Monastery as an adjunct of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, contrary to the aforementioned Sigil, and therefore considers that he can give orders to open the gate of the Monastery. 4. He ignores that the Congregation of Fathers has the right to impose on the Abbot and Archbishop the refusal of His Beatitude’s invitation.

But I am glad about this document because, at last, the role of the Patriarch of Jerusalem in the manifestation of the ecclesiastical coup, after all, he possesses the relevant expertise, but above all, in deepening the discord within the Holy Sinai Brotherhood is revealed. But what is most interesting is the timing of this document. It was sent only when the Patriarchate of Jerusalem learned that today I was going to announce my decision on the way out of the crisis plaguing the Holy Sinai Brotherhood and that this decision has the agreement of the Fathers, the Greek Government, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and the Church of Greece.

The Holy Monastery of Sinai does not have a tradition of staging coups, deposing Patriarchs and then locking them up in internal prisons to debilitate them spiritually, mentally and physically. The Holy Monastery of Sinai would never have displayed this pusillanimous attitude that Patriarch Theophilus of Jerusalem personally displayed when the inevitable hour of the passing of his predecessor Irenaeus, came. Who will forget that the only one who was interested even then in the dignity of the deceased was the Greek Government and the Church of Greece? Without the Greek Government and the Church of Greece, the deceased would still be unburied because the Patriarch of Jerusalem forbade him to be buried anywhere within the boundaries of his ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Fortunately, even at the worst time in the history of the Sinai Monastery, this has not happened and we must all make sure that it does not.

I owe, however, a little reference to the hypocrisy of many brothers on the famous subject of Mrs. A.S. Thanks to her, many Greeks have learned the term “synaesthete”. If instead of a woman, it were a man, the same “circles” and “brothers” would again poison the world all over again by implying the same things, the same dependencies, and the same relationships. Only the insinuations would be even more obscene. This is the fate, unfortunately, that all the Hierarchs whom God has given us many years to live have. But in the case of Mrs. A.S., there is also plenty of misogyny, pietism, and puritanism. The Lord knows and judges!

I informed the Greek government yesterday of my decision, which is in the spirit of what I have already discussed with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Church of Greece. Since it is now a given that the Holy Sinaitic Brotherhood agrees on the strategic goals and tactical methods for dealing with the existential crisis facing the monastery to which I have dedicated my entire life, it is time for me to assume my responsibilities and guarantee my succession procedures which begin immediately and must be completed quickly but in the right way so that the Holy Sinaitic Brotherhood, united, can focus on solving the great problem it faces.

The procedural details will be finalized within the next few days, will be announced as soon as they are agreed upon by all, and will be implemented with the help of the Egyptian authorities, the Greek government, and the Church of Greece.

I forgive everyone and ask for everyone’s forgiveness!